


Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make The Change

by sarahlu



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Gen, Me: im gonna write that as a fic, Me: watches videos of Scott Grimes singing, its just about Malarkey singing, so i did, thats literally the story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23652973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahlu/pseuds/sarahlu
Summary: SCOTT GRIMES IS AN INCREDIBLE SINGER and I just really wanted to write a Malarkey singing fic OK????https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn4RHPAI5sAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxKAtchFXrYthose are the two performances I reffed for this bc gosh I just love him.unbeta'd bc this story is essentially just a manifested brainwormAll based off the actors portrayal, no disrespect or connection to the actual men of easy companyenjoy!!
Relationships: Babe Heffron/Eugene Roe, George Luz/Joseph Toye, Joseph Liebgott/David Kenyon Webster, Lewis Nixon/Richard Winters, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make The Change

**Author's Note:**

> SCOTT GRIMES IS AN INCREDIBLE SINGER and I just really wanted to write a Malarkey singing fic OK????  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn4RHPAI5sA  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxKAtchFXrY
> 
> those are the two performances I reffed for this bc gosh I just love him.  
> unbeta'd bc this story is essentially just a manifested brainworm 
> 
> All based off the actors portrayal, no disrespect or connection to the actual men of easy company
> 
> enjoy!!

The marriage of Dick Winters and Lewis Nixon was a long time in the making. They were the couple that had met as children and just stuck like glue to one another. The only shocking thing about their wedding was that it didn’t happen sooner, with both men opting to wait to finish school and start their business together and to a successful place, which by the time that all happened they were nearing 30. 

Their families were both in attendance, though with varying levels of enthusiasm for the occasion. 

Dick’s family enthusiastically supported the union, taking Lewis in and making him a part of the family from the time he was a child. When they announced to their families they were more than friends in high school, the Winters family made it clear that it changed nothing and they still loved both boys unconditionally. 

The Nixon family wasn’t against it, or else they wouldn’t have attended. His parents had never been outright hostile to the relationship, there were just several eligible young ladies in the area they would have once upon a time preferred Lewis to marry. They knew though, once his mind was set, you couldn’t convince the oldest Nixon boy of anything. 

It was a big wedding, with both men having large extended families and everyone wanting an invitation. Lewis bitterly joked that some people just wanted to see a gay wedding up close and personal, rather than be on the outside looking in. Dick tried to believe they had better intentions than that. 

In addition to the over 100 blood-related family members in attendance, there was also a big group of the men’s chosen family there. 

Dick and Lewis had owned their business for nearly 6 years, Easy Street Co. and that business was a restaurant and bar that was the best-kept secret in all of Philadelphia. It was the kind of place you stumbled into by accident but once you found it, you kept going back. They had their loyal base and a steady stream of new customers and it did very well. 

Operating a place like that means hiring a wide array of people to staff it, and when you are around them enough they too become your family. There was Harry who helped Dick in the office with business, and his wife Kitty who was their accountant and bookkeeper. A friend of Dick’s from undergrad, Buck Compton represented the establishment legally, and Ron Speirs who was the general manager. 

Lewis did more of the front of house operations, working closely with that staff. Mainly he set the plan for the days and gave those tasks to the floor supervisor Carwood Lipton, then hung out at the far end of the bar with a glass of Vat 69 for the rest of the day. 

Over the years they had a rotating cast of staff but quite a few had proven to be in it for the long haul. Joe Toye and Don Malarkey had been hired on the same day in the early days as line cooks, working their way up to both be kitchen managers, running a tight ship for every new kid who comes in. 

George Luz and Joe Liebgott were the head bartenders, with their pride and joy Babe Heffron that they had finally whipped into shape enough to hold his own without them. It brought a tear to both of their eyes to watch him chew out a new kid for wasting liquor, like parents sending their kid off to college they were full of pride at the sight. There was also a full waitstaff made up of veterans and newbies but they were family all the same. 

There was something in the atmosphere of Easy Street that facilitated romance because most of their staff ended up in relationships either with patrons or in a few cases each other. 

It started with Lipton and Speirs, and something was bound to have happened with how closely they work. Lewis just never took Speirs for the settled type, well any type at all really, but once he locked in on Lipton that was it. Luckily it was mutual and not a case of workplace harassment like Dick was afraid of. Toye and Luz were surprising to everyone but them. They had had their eyes on each other from day one and it only took a few months for them to get together, but had been together for over 5 years. 

Babe and Liebgott both ended up with regulars. The young black-haired man was a resident at the hospital a few blocks up from the bar, he started going to Easy Street after his shifts and Babe would literally trip over himself to talk to him. Finally, the doctor, named Gene Roe, took pity on him and asked him out, and the rest, as they say, is history; Gene still goes to the bar and Babe still clumsily flirts with him, the only difference is now Gene waits until Babe’s shift is over and they leave together. 

Liebgott’s relationship started a bit rockier, the college student named David Webster would sit at the end of the bar and study, rarely ordering any alcohol and shooting dirty looks at people being too rowdy. “It’s a bar,” Liebgott had told him “What do you expect?” These comments often escalated into arguments which later turned into sucking face in the bathroom. They still fought in public, only it was now done out of love and not disdain for one another. 

Then there was Malarkey. The secret glue that held it all together, Malarkey looked out for everyone. He, along with Skip and Penkala were the big brothers of the joint. The three of them were as thick as thieves, keeping everyone's spirits up. Everyone had a place in the Easy Street family. 

Being that they were a family, the whole staff was invited to the wedding. They closed shop for the night to ensure everyone would be able to attend at Dick’s insistence, they even all had plus one’s. Only the best for their men.  
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the older people started to leave the receptions, to really be able to start partying. Once goodbyes to parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents were said the band picked up and drinks started flowing more freely. 

As the night progressed, the usual antics began to happen. Guarnere threatened one of Lewis’s cousins with his prosthesis before his fiance Frannie stepped in and calmed him down, Liebgott and Webster had a shouting match outside over a cigarette, Luz tried to hassle the bartender to move out of the way so he could do a better job. Hoobler and Julian tried it on with a few of Dick’s cousins, both having a thing for country girls. 

Everyone was otherwise occupied either with each other or at the bar, and nobody noticed Malarkey jump on stage and quietly converse with the band while they took a minute to regroup. 

Nobody paid any attention until the first acoustic chords of a familiar song began to fill the room. The guests seemed quite perplexed to see Malarkey on stage fiddling with the mic stand and cord, preparing for the start of the song. Skip and Penkala gave each other a smirk, they knew about this hidden talent as Malarkey’s roommates. His room was filled with different guitars, a keyboard, and recording equipment. Why he had never exposed that talent to everyone before they weren’t sure, but they did know their friends were in for quite the treat. 

“I’m gonna make a change, for once in my life,” he crooned, a smile playing on his lips. His eyes were closed, so he wasn’t able to see the reaction of the room. Lots of raised eyebrows in surprise. 

“It’s gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference, gonna make it right,” At that point, the room had caught up and a few whistles were let out. Malarkey smiled but his eyes remained shut and he started to sway. The room started to clap along on beat.

The people that had been at the bar now joined the rest of the party on the dance floor near the stage for the impromptu performance. 

“As I turn up the collar on my favorite winter coat,” he sang, his eyes now open and smile on his lips “This wind is blowing my mind. I see kids on the streets, without enough to eat. Who am I to be blind? Pretending not to see their needs?” The band joined in to harmonize as if it were the most natural thing in the world like they had practiced. 

“A summer disregard, a broken bottle top, and a one man soul,” he moved the stand out of the way completely “They follow each other on the wind ya know cause they got nowhere to go,” he drug the note out to a run, earning a loud cheer from the crowd.

“That’s why I want you to know,” He sang in unison with the band.  
“I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I am,” he belted, “I’m asking him to change his ways, and no message could’ve been any clearer: If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change! Woo!” he shouted, “Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah!” 

His voice was softer in the second verse, “I’ve been a victim of a selfish kind of love, it’s time that I realize,” his eyes were closed again as he serenaded. 

“That there are some with no home, not a nickel to loan. Could it be really me, pretending that they’re not alone?” He hopped off the stage and into the crowd of his friends. From there he could hear them all singing along with him. 

“A willow deeply scarred, somebody’s broken heart, and a washed out dream,” He sang “They follow the pattern of the wind ya see, cause they got no place to be. That’s why I’m starting with me!” 

By the second chorus, everyone was singing along. The energy that had been winding down, becoming calmer was once again electric as everyone danced and sang, clapped and laughed with one another. 

“You gotta get it right while you got the time, cause if you close your heart then you close your mind yeah!” he sang as he hopped back onto the stage, the crowd following him to get close to the ledge. 

The next several minutes were spent repeating the chorus. 

“I’m gonna ask you one more time, are you gonna make a change?” he belted as the song began to wind down. Finally, the last notes were strummed and the party erupted in thunderous cheers and applause. 

Malarkey couldn’t stop smiling as he hugged the band when an encore was called. He looked around the stage and noticed an empty keyboard. Leaning in to quietly ask the bandleader a question, he got approval and grinned ear to ear as he sat down at the piano and played the opening notes to Walking in Memphis. It was a more soulful performance, there was more standing and just listening than the energy of Man in the Mirror. It was still received with deafening applause and the adulation that comes with learning one of your friends has a secret talent they are incredible at. 

“Malark! Never knew you had that in ya!” Luz exclaimed, clapping him on the back and handing him a drink as soon as he got off stage. Malarkey took a long pull from the glass and shrugged. 

“Never came up,” he offered in explanation. It was the truth, he would have told anyone if they were to go to his place and see all of his stuff, but generally, they all hung out at other people’s places and not his. 

“Well now we know, damn you could be famous! You know that? Start making covers and stuff! Put them on youtube!” Babe chartered excitedly at him, Gene behind him smiling indulgently at his clearly inebriated boyfriend. 

“Thank you so much, Don. That was wonderful.” Dick told him warmly, a genuine smile on his face. Lewis did the same but with a handshake that he pulled into a hug and clap on the back. 

The band packed up after that, the bar closed up, and the event staff literally had to kick them out of the facility. They decided to move the afterparty to their own space, staying at Easy Street into the wee house of the morning. They were closed for the week anyways while Dick and Lewis took a short honeymoon. 

Malarkey brought the acoustic guitar he kept in his trunk with him and everyone cheered when they saw it. He tuned it for a few minutes as everyone settled in. Finally, he started strumming. 

“Anyways,” he began, “Here’s Wonderwall.” which earned a round of laughter. It was the perfect ending to a great day.


End file.
